1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in particular to an assembly for a lighting and/or signalling device of an automotive vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Patent EP 1 591 313 B1, which is equivalent to U.S. Pat. No. 7,452,116, discloses a headlamp device comprising a multifunctional actuator block. Actuator refers to an electrotechnical element, of the motor type, associated with a cinematic chain permitting the movement of a target element. Most often, an actuator comprises an electronic control card designed to manage its operation. The actuator block present in the headlamp device is multifunctional: it makes it possible to perform a first function consisting of the switching of a pivoting flap in the headlamp device, and a second function, called the DBL function.
The field of the invention is in particular that of automotive vehicle headlamps. In this field, different types of headlamp devices are known, essentially including:
parking lights, with low intensity and range;
dipped beams, with greater intensity and range on the road of around 70 meters, which are essentially used at night and whose light beam dispersion is such that it makes it possible not to blind the driver of an oncoming vehicle;
driving main beams, and auxiliary lamps of the long-range type, whose visibility area on the road is around 200 meters, and which must be extinguished when approaching an oncoming vehicle so as not to blind its driver; and
fog lamps.
Furthermore, a type of perfected headlamp is known, called a bifunctional headlamp, which combines the dipped beam and main beam functions: to this end, it is for example possible to dispose inside the bifunctional headlamp a rotating cover capable of passing, on command from a first position in which it obscures part of the luminous signal product by the light source of the headlamp, the range of the headlamp being thereby limited to that of the dipped beam so as not to blind other drivers, to a second position in which it does not obscure the luminous signal product by the light source of the headlamp, the range of the headlamp then corresponding to that of the main beam, as described in patent EP 1 197 387, which is equivalent to U.S. Pat. No. 6,623,149. This exemplary embodiment is mainly implemented in headlamp devices of the elliptical type. On the same principle, multifunctional headlamps also exist, in which a mobile cover can adopt more than two positions so as to obscure in a number of ways, selectively, the light beam emitted by the source: there are also bifunctional left-hand-drive-dipping/right-hand-drive-dipping covers, trifunctional left-hand-drive-dipping/right-hand-drive-dipping/main-beam covers etc.
To permit the switching of a beam of a first type to a beam of a second type, in particular in a multifunctional device, it is often desirable to have a stepping motor, which offers precise operation with good angular resolution.
However such a motor has to be integrated into a very hot area, due to the proximity with the light source, while occupying the smallest space for reasons of overall dimension.
Moreover the mounting of the motor in the device must be able to be done relatively simply.